C’est Cheese ripens in Port Jefferson

A selection of cheeses at C'est Cheese in Port Jefferson. (Credit: handout)

It’s been over a year and a half since Joe Ciardullo opened his cheese shop-cafe in Port Jefferson, and C’est Cheese is maturing nicely. The cheese selection approaches 120 varieties, and the dining-in menu has grown to include dozens of cheese plates, salads and sandwiches, seven of which are grilled cheese. They include the Parisian (brie, apple and honey), the Capra (goat cheese, fig preserve...

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It’s been over a year and a half since Joe Ciardullo opened his cheese shop-cafe in Port Jefferson, and C’est Cheese is maturing nicely. The cheese selection approaches 120 varieties, and the dining-in menu has grown to include dozens of cheese plates, salads and sandwiches, seven of which are grilled cheese.

They include the Parisian (brie, apple and honey), the Capra (goat cheese, fig preserve and greens), the Big Blue (blue cheese, raspberry-cranberry relish) and the Classic (“lots of melted Cheddar, nothing else”). Each is $8.50.

C’est Cheese has also added open-mic night (Thursday) and trivia night (Tuesday) to a roster that already included live music on Friday and Saturday. To go with the cheese there is a slew of beers on tap and wines by the glass. Ciardullo recently upgraded the coffee service to Tend Coffee, the organic Shirley micro-roasters.

“You got any cheese that goes well with coffee?” I asked Ciardello. “We do,” he said. “I find that blue cheeses bring out coffee’s hidden herbaceous notes. And sometimes we carry Barely Buzzed, a cows’ milk cheese from Beehive Cheese in Utah. It’s rubbed with espresso and lavender.”

C’est Cheese is at 216B Main St., Port Jefferson, 631-403-4944

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